More Work Goes 'Undercover'

Bringing the Office To Bed for 3 a.m. Emails to China; Wi-Fi Mattresses

More mobile, wireless devices means more people are working from bed. A comfortable idea in theory is not so good for people in practice, as productivity expert Laura Stack and WSJ's Sue Shellenbarger explain on Lunch Break.

By

Sue Shellenbarger

Updated Nov. 14, 2012 12:01 a.m. ET

Is clacking away on a laptop while sprawling on bed sheets more comfortable and productive than hunching over a desk?

Researchers who study work habits say a new generation reared on mobile devices is increasingly accustomed to using them while propped against pillows, lying down or in a fetal curl.

Half of 1,000 workers polled this year by Good Technology, a Sunnyvale, Calif., mobile-security software company, said they read or respond to work emails from bed. A study of 329 British workers found nearly 1 in 5 employees spends two to 10 hours a week working from bed, according to the 2009 poll by Credant Technologies, a London-based data-security company.

Some people who work from the sack are intent on staying ahead of email, or responding quickly to customers or co-workers in different time zones, the surveys show. One 37-year-old who responded to a 2012 survey on the topic by Infosecurity Europe, a London industry group, said "when you work with people all around the world, it is difficult to avoid" working from bed.

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Laura Stack, a Denver productivity trainer and speaker, says she has seen a doubling of clients in the past decade who work from their sleep space. Many think it will make them more productive. More often, though, it gives people an excuse to procrastinate during the workday. "They think, 'I'll just put in a few hours at home in bed tonight anyway, so I have plenty of time to check Facebook and price tickets for my next vacation,' " says Ms. Stack. She advises people to take steps to be more efficient during the workday, and to keep the bedroom off-limits for everything but sleep and sex.

Others become so immersed in using mobile devices that they feel remiss if they turn them off. For many, working in bed is a step toward being "overrun by technology," says Daniel Sieberg, a former technology journalist and author of "The Digital Diet," a 2011 book on how he curbed his own device addiction.

"My wife had a nickname for me, 'Glowworm,' because my face was constantly illuminated by some sort of screen in bed," he says. "I can say firsthand, it doesn't lend itself to intimacy when you're staring at a screen." He has since made his bedroom a "device-free zone," putting chargers elsewhere in the house and using an alarm clock instead of his smartphone alarm. More than half of people whose partners work from bed find the habit annoying, according to the Credant survey.

Market research by Reverie, a Walpole, Mass., maker of adjustable beds, suggests as many as 80% of young New York City professionals work regularly from bed, says chief executive Martin Rawls-Meehan. His firm is pushing to change the hospital image of adjustable beds to appeal to younger consumers, showing them how elevating the head or foot can ease strain while watching TV or working.

Reverie also offers a built-in power outlet in the base of its beds to plug in lamps, televisions or laptops. Both the outlet and the bed's movement can be operated with a hand-held remote, or with the user's smartphone or tablet via built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

David Spiegel used to avoid working from bed because it was uncomfortable. But since buying an adjustable Reverie model six months ago, the Chicago attorney has begun checking and sending email several nights a week before falling asleep. Elevating the head and foot of the bed prevents back strain, he says. Also, the worknight ritual helps him "catch up and make sure everything is buttoned up, so I know I'm going into the next day prepared."

Luxury-bed manufacturer E.S. Kluft & Co. of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., just launched a giant 7-by-7-foot bed, 16% bigger than a standard king bed and a foot wider than a California King. One split model features separate adjustments for each side, partly to allow couples to spread out papers and work from bed, says chief executive Earl Kluft. A recent ad shows a couple eying a laptop side-by-side, portraying the bed as "a gathering place, a workplace, a comfort zone for a couple," says Mr. Kluft.

ENLARGE

Steelcase, a Grand Rapids, Mich., office-furniture maker, has been researching the changing work habits of Millennials and other young workers. It recently launched a line of low-slung lounge-like chairs with headboards and pillows, for leaning back and relaxing while working or talking to colleagues. The company hopes more employers will replace a cubicle or two with such flexible furniture. "Maybe people will say, 'I'll work there instead of working from my bed tonight,' " says James Ludwig, vice president of global design.

Ergonomics experts shudder at the trend. Mr. Sieberg says many people who bring laptops or other devices to bed get stiff necks or backs from holding their bodies in strange positions, propping themselves up on their elbows or rolling around trying to get comfortable. Tapping casually on a smartphone or tablet touch screen in bed is less likely to cause ergonomic problems than multitasking intensively on a laptop. But working on any mobile device in bed for more than an hour without lumbar support, with the neck bent forward too sharply, or with the arms and hands suspended at an awkward angle, is likely to cause aches and pains.

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Don Chaffin, director emeritus of the University of Michigan's Center for Ergonomics, recommends using a detachable keyboard and setting it on a lap desk or pillow, and supporting elbows and arms so the wrists are straight when extended. Any screen or monitor should sit at or just below eye level, perhaps on a rolling table or extendible arm, so the user doesn't have to flex the neck more than 15 degrees. A lumbar pillow for the back and more pillows propped under the legs can ease muscle strain, Dr. Chaffin says. People should get up and move around every hour or so.

Sleep can suffer too, of course. Russell Rosenberg, chairman of the National Sleep Foundation, says light from screens tends to suppress the sleep hormone melatonin. And a work-in-bed habit can "break that bond between sleep and the bedroom," and trigger or worsen insomnia, he says.

Pitfalls aside, some people find they do their best work this way. The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Charles Simic, of Strafford, N.H., says he wrote "a shocking amount" of his 19 books of poetry from the tangle of his sheets. Even when he was given an office overlooking the Capitol during his tenure as U.S. Poet Laureate, he preferred his bed. "Everything flows much better," he says.

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